A great win for Monster Energy Yamaha rider Eli Tomac and HRC rider Jett Lawrence at the High Point National. Below are a bunch of comments from the top guys.

Eli Tomac: “It was an awesome weekend! It was our first overall win together in motocross as a team. I’m super thankful for all the work that has been put in, and I’m glad that I was able to get a win for the team. It was a tough fight today in Moto 1, but I was able to get to second. To be honest, I was struggling with a few lines in that first moto, but in the second one, I felt like I was the best guy with the lines, and I was able to make passes and go forward through the pack. I just felt great on the motorcycle in Moto 2 and was riding well. I’m looking to keep this momentum rolling.”

Chase Sexton: “I just struggled with how choppy the track was. I didn’t feel as good as I did in the first moto, but Eli was riding awesome. I just needed to put my head down. We rebounded well and I’m satisfied with the result today. First moto, I had the luxury of being able to ride my own lines. It felt like a practice moto for me. So that was obviously really good. And when you’re out front on a track like this, you’re able to be a little more creative and are able take your time on places that are rough and charge in spots that are not. “Second moto, didn’t really ride that great, I didn’t feel like. Especially in the beginning, I was just kinda bulldogging it a little bit and not riding super smooth. That was a little bit difficult. Then I made a mistake by Kenny and he got me back and then Eli got me. I got sucked up. Then actually, I think Dunge almost got me, too. So I kinda had to kick it in gear there. Got Kenny, then Eli was pretty far ahead at that point so I just kinda tried to ride as hard as I could, but obviously it wasn’t enough to win. it was a good day for me. Obviously, first moto was a dream moto and then second moto was a good fight. Looking forward to going to the week off then my home race at RedBud.

Jason Anderson: “The second moto was a struggle for me. I couldn't find the flow. We’ll take the positives, try to figure it out, and be better moving forward. I want to be back up front battling for wins, but these guys are riding really well right now. Three-five on the day, it’s not bad. Podiums nice but riding wise it was a little bit frustrating. But that’s how it is. It was honestly kind of tough in that second moto for me. Just trying to find my flow and everything like that. All in all, I tried my hardest and that’s all I could ask for. We’ll live to fight another day and try and problem solve this week and see how it ends up. …Back to the drawing board.

Jett Lawrence: I had to get him (Hunter Lawrence). If not, he would have gained points on me. At least we tied (for the overall). I relaxed for a little bit (in Moto 2) and it allowed Hunter to get me back, but I was able to get by him again. We didn’t lose any points today so it’s good. I didn’t realize it was that close. It’s cool cause you like having that race that is just the whole time 100 percent and having that guy push you. It was fun. With us, we know that we don’t want to let each other pass, but we do it in a respectful way where we’re never going to come off the going, ‘Why the hell did you do this?!’ or getting into a fist fight. We just like having fun racing, being close.

Hunter Lawrence: “It’s ok (to finish second). I’ll get him (Jett Lawrence) back another day, for sure. We traded motos today. It’s Father’s Day, so hopefully we gave our dad the best Father’s Day he could have. It was a coin toss that last one. 

Jo Shimoda: “Today was a much better day for starts.That’s what I was looking for. I’m not feeling the best, but i kept pushing and pushing and got third overall. I’m happy with that. Having a good start is a big thing to me. I think it helped me get to here.

Ryan Dungey: “It was awesome. This week we made progress with the bike and it really translated to the weekend. I didn’t get a great start in the first moto but I was happy that we made a lot of passes and came through the pack. I got off to that good start in Moto 2 and it was so nice to just get clean air and run up there with the fast guys. A little slower start, got passed a little bit but got into the mix and it just felt good. The setup felt good, track felt good and it was nice to be up front and one step closer to the podium.”

Aaron Plessinger: “The bike was feeling good in practice and I made some changes going into Moto 1 that didn’t really benefit me. I rode really tight in the first one and salvaged ninth. Second moto, I was feeling really good – ready to rumble – and I got a good start and was running really good laps, but I ended up twisting my ankle pretty bad with two laps to go. I’m pumped on the way I was riding all day, it’s unfortunate that that had to happen at the end but we’ll focus on RedBud and try to get up there on the podium.”

Ken Roczen: Yeah, it was tough day for me today. With the way the track developed, I had a tough time today. What definitely didn’t help me was I got a really horrible start. And with a track like this, with how rutty it gets, how rough it gets, and a lot of these off cambers and whatnot, it was tough to get into a good flow. Me and Ryan were battling the whole way, which was super gnarly and super fun. I just wasn’t able to move forward and didn’t ride as loose as I wanted to. So every time I came up on some faster riders it was tough for me to make something and make a pass. I grabbed a much better start in the second one. And was leading for a little bit. I know we lost a bunch today, but I’m not gonna let that get me down. We’re going into an off weekend, and I’m gonna work hard, but have a little bit of a mixture and try to make the off weekend feel like an off weekend. I’m excited for the off weekend and we’re gonna continue working and hopefully get some points back at some point.

Antonio Cairoli: “I look forward to this race because the track I really like. In practice this morning, I felt better than the previous race, of course the pace was much better and we worked a little bit on speed this week, so the feeling was good. First moto, the start was okay with sixth on the first lap and I knew I needed to attack to win some positions but I made a mistake and touched together with another rider and I put down my knee really hard. I felt it immediately because this knee is giving me some trouble already and it was a big hit. It started swelling up and fluid inside, so I pulled off. Second moto, I was last off the start because it's a different format than in GPs and I was a little surprised at the silly mistake I did and I had to line up on the outside, which is not the ideal place to start. With the knee in this condition, I couldn’t really pull a good start and then I was out of the top-20. I got back up to 13th but I was struggling a lot with my knee, so I decided it’s not really a good day, let’s move on. We had a good time here. For sure I would like to end up in a different situation but it’s okay. We are not hurt so bad, just a bad day.”

Justin Cooper: “The day started off all right, I just didn’t get very good starts today and didn’t put myself in a good position. I didn’t make much progress in the first moto, but in the second one, I was able to make a few passes and get up to the Lawrence Brothers (Hunter and Jett). I even made a pass on Jett for a second, but I just didn’t have the pace to run with them. I wasn’t that comfortable out there; this is always one of those tracks that is a little tough to ride. We’re going to take the positives from this weekend, but we definitely need to be better and need to give those guys a fight.”

Nate Thrasher: “It started off pretty good in qualifying. I felt like I had a pretty good pace today, but there were some things that kind of held me back. I felt good in that first moto and got a good start and ran up there for a little bit, but I didn’t make passes early enough. I got stuck there and then pumped up a little bit and went back at the end. In the second moto, I got a horrible start and I had to work through the pack. So, it was an okay day, but it also was my first time here, so we’ll just learn from it and come back stronger.”

Levi Kitchen: “I’d say the only positive today was two good starts. I just really struggled with kind of everything. I fell the first lap in both motos while I was up front, so I could blame that, but to be honest, just riding-wise I didn’t feel comfortable out there. At the end of the day, I’m glad I’m healthy and we’ll come back stronger at RedBud and do our best.”

Nick Romano: “It was another up-and-down day. I qualified really well in eighth, which is the best I’ve qualified so far. When it came to racing, I just wasn’t really riding at my full potential. I wasn’t really gelling with the track or my bike. This track is tough. It was my first time here and it was completely different from what I expected, but no excuses. We’re going to go back and work on our weaknesses during this off-weekend and come back at RedBud.”

Matt LeBlanc: “It was kind of a tough day. My qualifying wasn’t that great and then in the first moto, I was around 10th and ended up getting something stuck in my rear brake. I had to roll around a little bit, then it finally freed up and I made a few passes and ended up 12th. In the second moto, it was just a bad first lap and I didn’t put myself in a good spot. I was kind of in the same place the whole moto and didn’t really gain or lose much. Overall, the day wasn’t that great, but we learned some things and we’ll move on to Red Bud.”

Michael Mosiman: “Today was a day of mixed emotions! This track is extremely technical and tough and I think it really fell into a lot of my strengths. I’m proud of where the bike was at and just my riding and speed. It’s a really cool feeling to pass for the lead in the first moto! I was able to make up some really good ground, make good clean passes and that’s a feeling I’m going to remember and replay over in my head and look to repeat throughout the season. I made some mistakes, too, and I’m really going to work on staying engaged and focusing on solutions to put together a solid 35 minutes out there.”

Pierce Brown: “I had just a tough day all-around. I had some decent starts and I was up there in the fight for a little bit but I just struggled today and couldn’t put it all together. I ended up ninth overall, a step forward from last week, so that’s a positive. We’ve been trending in the right direction results-wise from Hangtown until now but still nowhere near where I should be, or where I want to be, so we’re going to do some work during the off-week and be ready for RedBud.”

Justin Barcia: “We’re taking steps in the right direction. I had a pretty good practice and had some great starts in my motos. The first moto was really good, I charged hard and ended up fourth. The second moto was a little bit of a let-down for me. I felt really good, the bike setup was really good, but I just over-rode a little bit. The track was really gnarly but all-in-all, a lot of positives. I’m really looking forward to this off-week to catch up on some motos and just keep working on things so I can send it into RedBud!”

R.J. Hampshire: “Today was a tough day but we battled through it. Did what we could, showed up and gave it all I had today. That was probably the hardest 7-7 I’ve ever had in my life. I’m glad we showed up and went racing today, though. We’ll have a good weekend off now and we’re headed to my favorite track. I’m looking forward to RedBud.

Styler Robertson: “The day was up and down for me. I went into the motos confident and really happy. I didn’t get a good jump and in the third-turn, I went down and hit someone’s back tire so I came from last up to 14th. Second moto, I got an okay start and stayed around that position. I battled the whole moto, it was fun, but definitely not where we want to be. We’ll take this weekend off and rest/recoup and come back to my favorite track swinging at RedBud.”

Shane McElrath: “It was a little bit rough today, I just struggled with the track from the first time out. I felt pretty good in practice but it’s a tough track to flow on and I didn’t quite figure it out. I’m a little bit disappointed but I know that I can be better and we can make some good changes to continue making progress.”

Christian Craig: “Our day started off alright. I felt pretty good in practice and qualified seventh, which wasn’t bad. We went into the day wanting to put in two solid motos, and that’s what we did. In the first moto, I didn’t have any flow with the track, but in the second moto, I was able to rebound and battle up towards the front and went 8-6 on the day. I didn’t have the best ride, but we were battling, and our starts were better. We are kind of back on track after a tough Thunder Valley last weekend, but we were just a tick off today and we still need to be a little bit better. We’ll get back to work and move on to RedBud.”